Data Types for DB2 under UNIX and PC Hosts

The following table lists the data type support for a DB2 database under UNIX and PC hosts.

The NCHAR, NVARCHAR, and TINYINT data types are not supported for data type definition.

For data source specific information about the DB2 database data types, see the DB2 database documentation.

Data Types for DB2 under UNIX and PC Hosts
Data Type Definition Keyword1	DB2 Data Type	Description	Data Type Returned
BIGINT	BIGINT	Large signed, exact whole number.	BIGINT
BINARY(n)	CHAR(n) FOR BIT DATA	Fixed-length binary string.	BINARY(n)
2	BLOB(n[K\|M\|G])	Varying-length binary large object string.	2
CHAR(n)	CHAR(n)	Fixed-length character string.	CHAR(n)
2	CLOB(n[K\|M\|G] )	Varying-length character large object string.	2
DATE	DATE	Date values.	DATE
2	DBCLOB(n[K\|M\|G])	Varying-length double-byte character large object.	2
DECIMAL\|NUMERIC(p,s)	DECIMAL\|NUMERIC(p,s)	Signed, fixed-point decimal number.	DECIMAL\|NUMERIC(p,s)
DOUBLE	DOUBLE	Signed, double precision, floating-point number.	DOUBLE
FLOAT(p)	FLOAT(p)	Signed, single precision or double precision, floating-point number.	FLOAT(p)
2	GRAPHIC(n)	Fixed-length graphic string.	2
INTEGER	INTEGER	Regular signed, exact whole number.	INTEGER
2	LONG VARCHAR [FOR BIT DATA]	Varying-length character or binary string.	2
2	LONG VARGRAPHIC(n)	Varying-length graphic string.	2
REAL	REAL	Signed, single precision, floating-point number.	REAL
SMALLINT	SMALLINT	Small signed, exact whole number.	SMALLINT
TIME(p)	TIME(p)	Time value.	TIME(p)
TIMESTAMP(p)	TIMESTAMP(p)	Date and time value.	TIMESTAMP(p)
VARBINARY(n)	VARCHAR(n) FOR BIT DATA	Varying-length binary string.	VARBINARY(n)
VARCHAR(n)	VARCHAR(n)	Varying-length character string.	VARCHAR(n)
2	VARGRAPHIC(n)	Varying-length graphic string	2
1The CT_PRESERVE= connection argument, which controls how data types are mapped, can affect whether a data type can be defined. The values FORCE (default) and FORCE_COL_SIZE do not affect whether a data type can be defined. The values STRICT and SAFE can result in an error if the requested data type is not native to the data source, or the specified precision or scale is not within the data source range.
2The DB2 data type cannot be defined, and when data is retrieved, the native data type is mapped to a similar data type.